Hello there,
Thank you BettaFish.com for helping me cure Sammy's ick. As I've heard is common, Sammy now has a secondary issue, which I believe is fin rot:http://www.bettafish.com/picture.php...ictureid=28626
To make matters worse, I was playing "bite my finger" with him last night (which I shouldn't do, but he seems so bored if I don't play with and talk to him) and Sammy got a bit too rambunctious and threw himself out of his tank.
I got him safely back in the water and inspected the little guy for damage. He seems okay, but I'm worried the stress of being sick and then out of water will do him in.
Is there anything I can do for Sammy to help calm his nerves and speed his fin recovery? I have a new 2 gallon heated tank cycling, waiting for him, but I'm hesitant to add to his stress level by moving him.
Currently he's in a 1 gallon tank w/under gravel filter, between 76-79 degrees (via ambient temp, no heater). I use water conditioner and aquarium salt when I perform water changes, and I have a turkey baster to suction out debris from the gravel between water changes. Add bettafix once daily to make sure the ick is completely gone.
Ammonia 0.25 (no matter what I do I can't seem to get a 0 reading)
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Total Hardness between 25 - 50
Alkalinity 80
pH 6.8
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks again!

um there are many things you can do. Option one is medicate, which you've already been doing. Baring you haven't had him in the medication too long I would maybe just keep it up until the 10 day mark. option two is natural medicate which is aq salt, extra stress coat and IAL. But you've already go the aq salt going, also make sure you don't medicate past 10 days, so I would keep that up.

He might not have fin rot though, in which case his fins should heal up within a couple days!

Thank you lvandert!
Sadly, matters have gotten worse. I'm pretty sure Sammy is EATING HIS TAIL. There are Sammy-sized bite marks:
Not sure if this photo will come through, but it's in my album.
I've held up a mirror and he ignores it. He does respond to my waving a finger around, but doesn't flare as much as he used to and he's a sickly maroon color instead of brilliant red like before.
His water parameters are ideal (see original post). I feed him those pellets (2-3, twice per day), and once in a while frozen shrimp and blood worms (though no blood worms since he had ick - was fine before I fed him those).
So, the question is, has anyone had any luck with curing fish boredom and/or depression and, if so, what worked??

um that could be a number of things we can change and then there is the one thing we cant lol. He might be bored, you could try toys. I know some people to the bird section and find plastic rings (big enough to swim through) and play with them that way. Other times they don't like something in their tank. Which mean changing things; plants, rocks, backgrounds, etc. Sometimes they will do it when stresses or sick (like humans chewing nails) and if he seems like he's better than your ok there. He may be upset that his filter is on (did you turn it off during treatment?) or maybe his light changed (a random beam of sun hitting his tank for a few mins a day?) Lastly some fish just bite their tails because it's too heavy. They wish they were plakats with those short, light tails and stopping it would be changing something in their brain.

As for his color changing he could just be changing colors. If he's acting like he feels good then they generally feel good. As for treating the tailbiting there isn't much you can do other than try to help the fins grow back as fast as they can. Extra stress coat and aq salt is about all you can do. But they will grow back just fine on their own with clean water.

it looks like he tore his fin. any sharp objects or plastic plants in the tank? as long as the tips arent white or black, you shouldnt be treating with medication. AQ salt will help, and remove any sharp objects. Is the filter flow fast?

Actually took his filter off because I thought that may be contributing to the problem. Plus, it didn't seem to be keeping his tank any cleaner than regular water changes were. I had one plastic plant, removed. Replaced with silk plant. Plus, he has one of those floating logs with the hole in the top and a spongebob pineapple house, and pvc piping to hide in.
The tail progression is quite dramatic. The top pic is stage one, the bottom pic is stage two and the pic from my first post is what he looks like now.
I was thinking of adding a pingpong ball or maybe a floating somethingrather.
One of the things that I find puzzling is that he seemed "happiest" in the little .75 gallon tank he first lived in - bubble nests, good color, no erratic behavior. BUT, I'm going to keep on trying to make the little guy happy again.
Thanks bettapeeps for keeping me hopeful!